Here are my random thoughts, rants, and daily mundane happenings.
Updates on my little ones will be posted here from time to time.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Snowballing Home Projects

Every homeowner knows that the list of home improvement projects is never ending. Here at Chez Pavey, the moving in has gone VERY slowly, and the problems/malfunctions seem to be multiplying. A quick summary: Prior to move in, water heater flooded daylight basement/family room. Extreme La Nina storms pummel master suite and sunroom, causing under door flooding in both rooms. Cost to clean carpets: nearly $400. First refrigerator water feature malfunctions, Home Depot provides free replacement with upgraded fridge. Cost savings: $1000 for fancier fridge than I need. (Scored Black Friday Deal!) Drain failure under kitchen sink after draining dish water. Immediately fixed by handy husband. Cost: free. Rodent invasion through unsealed surfaces. Lousy cat does not do her job. Cost: 2 cans of spray foam and dirty husband to crawlspace, plus 2 mouse traps set for any stragglers-no captures or further evidence of rodentia.

Now for my current Everest. The smallest room in our house is a full bath in the daylight basement. It is the "guest" bath, but also the main potty stop for those using the family room/playspace. Therefore it is seeing a lot of traffic from one little boy who loves to get potty prizes. The toilet paper holder thingy broke (replacement cost:$1.98), however, this has started the first major renovation in our new home. We discovered that the toilet was running too much so we bought a new flapper for the flusher. This did not help, the flapper could not freely swing to close. So Jeff got more of the mechanism yesterday. As he was installing it, he discovered that one of the bolts that holds the tank to the toilet was leaking. Now the back is totally off of the toilet, enabling me to paint the wainscoting a lovely shade of white (called Lamb).

Since the toilet paper holder broke, we decided to should replace all hardware in that bathroom. The builders of this house had TERRIBLE taste and installed GOLD HARDWARE everywhere! Hello 1980 (but the house was built in 2003, hence the taste issue). All walls/ceilings in this house are either boring beige or tan. So what better place to bring in some character that the guest bath, right? So, I've been painting.

When done, this bathroom will have a fully functioning toilet, beautiful paint (dark green above white wainscoting) and SILVER fixtures! If you visit Chez Pavey, please take a moment to notice this handiwork. I feel like we are rebuilding that bathroom!

Our first guests (Jeff's parents) are scheduled to arrive Feb 13. So I need to get back to paint prep while my family is still sleeping!